Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMcLaren

Button backs Magnussen as 'best driver on the market'

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Jenson Button has given his endorsement to former team mate Kevin Magnussen to return to the Formula One grid in 2016.

The pair raced together at McLaren in 2014, and Magnussen even opened his Formula One account by pipping Button to second place in their first outing in Australia - the only time all year that either man appeared on the podium.

Magnussen was forced back into a test and development role with the team for 2015 after McLaren signed two-time world champion Fernando Alonso to race for them. Since both Alonso and Button have been confirmed as staying with the team next season, the 23-year-old Dane faces a second year on the sidelines unless he finds a new home.

"I am in contact with several interesting teams both inside and outside of Formula 1," Magnussen confirmed to Danish tabloid BT last week. "Of course I hope soon to have something in place, but right now I just have to be patient."

To add to Magnussen's problems, McLaren also have Stoffel Vandoorne on their books waiting in the wings for a race seat. The Belgian made a splash in GP2 this year by dominating the championship and clinching the feeder series title at Sochi with four races still to go - although he too now faces an uncertain 2016 with no clear route up into Formula One.

Of the pair, Button is unequivocally backing Magnussen for any race seats that may open up on the grid away from McLaren in the coming months.

"Kevin deserves a place in Formula One," Button told BT in a separate interview earlier this week. "I don't know if he has a chance to secure one of the few free Formula One seats, but he is clearly the best driver on the market and I would recommend him very strongly to the teams that still has an opening.

"What I like best about Kevin is his will to succeed," he added. "He works so hard to get the best out of himself. And at the same time he also manages to get the best out of the team members that he works with - it is quite a rare feature. He is good enough to help a whole team move forward.

"When we were team mates in 2014, I was aware of the type of driver he is," Button continued. "He is extremely talented and extremely quick.

"But of course that's not always enough in Formula One: you're always having to learn something new and be willing to adapt to any situation, [and] he learned a lot during the 12 months we worked together.

"The Kevin I saw in the beginning of 2014 was very different from the person he was last season."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.